


Nomination, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s06e22 2162 Votes, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-18
Updated: 2005-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-15 19:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	1. Nomination, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**The Nomination**

by: Donna McGuire 

**Character(s):** Josh, Donna  
**Pairing(s):** Josh/Donna  
**Category(s):** Romance  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Summary:** It is the end of the sixth season, enjoy  
**Spoiler:** _2162 Votes_  
**Written:** 08-06-2005  
**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic,hope you enjoy it 

**Chapter 1**

Donna walks into the restaurant with Will; it was the night before the final vote was to be cast for the Democratic National Convention, Where they would be choosing either Russell or Santos as their choice for a Presidential candidate. As her eyes roamed the room, she noticed Josh sitting at a table alone. God how she missed him, it had been a month since the last time they had spoken, he told her that she should have been with him. He was right; her place was by his side, but not as his assistant anymore, as his equal partner. One day she hoped he would come to realize that she didn't leave him, she left a job. She hoped one day the anger would leave and the love would return. 

The headwaiter came and showed them to their table, funny it was right next to the table Josh was sitting at. Will placed his hand in the small of her back as they were lead back to the table. Josh noticed the act and felt the anger rise in his throat, but he would not let on that he even knew they were there. He looks so tired, I know he's not sleeping, I know he's not taking his blood pressure meds like he's supposed to she said to herself. But then again it's not my place to tell him anymore. He smiled as he seen her, her beautiful face was burned in his memory. A smile that could brighten any room. God how he missed her, He needed her and he was pretty sure he screwed up any chance of having her when he yelled at her a month ago. His mom told him to talk to her, to tell her how he felt Yeah ok mom. 

"Hi" Donna said to him as she walked by. 

"Hi yourself." 

Will excused himself and headed for the washroom. Donna sat down in the chair closest to Josh, but still at her table. 

"So, how you doing?" 

"I'm ok, yourself?" 

"I've been better." 

Then there was silence, the same silence that rips her heart apart. Will walks back to the table and leans down to speak to Donna, Josh feels another spike of jealousy because this man is so close to something he had and lost. He watches them, Will picks up his coat and walks away from the table. He turns to Donna who is looking at him. 

"Mind if I join you?" 

"Sure come on over" he stands and pulls out a chair for her. 

They needed to talk, they needed to clear the air between them, She wanted nothing more than to make it right between them again, the man she would love for the rest of her life looked like he was walking a lonely path with no hope in sight. 

"Josh" 

"Donna" 

"Do you still hate me?" 

"I never hated you Donna." 

"You did a month ago, you even told me so." 

"I didn't mean it, I was hurting." 

"So was I." 

"I know that now, I'm sorry I said those things to you." 

"I'm sorry it had to come to that." 

"We use to talk, didn't we?" 

"Yes we did, I don't think we knew how to talk to one another after Germany." 

Taking a deep breath, he remembers the tender moment in Germany, she called his name when she woke up, not, Colin's not Cliff's, not Capt Wonderful, but she called his name. A waiter came over and took Donna's order; Josh had to laugh at the way she still ate so much, "I wanted…. I don't know what I wanted when you came back from Germany." 

"I do, you wanted to hide me away so that no one would hurt me again." 

"Is there something wrong with protecting the people you care about?" 

"No, but you didn't trust me, you didn't believe in me enough to let me grow and move on to new things." 

"It's not that I didn't believe in you, I couldn't let go of you…. I…. I " 

"You what?" 

"I needed you, (softly) I still do." 

Josh looked up and seen a tear flow from her eyes, God he hated it when she cried, he didn't know how to react to her tears. 

"Why didn't you tell me this instead of yelling at me?" 

"Because I didn't know how to say it to you, I was angry and hurt and mad at myself." 

"Mad at yourself?" 

"Yes mad at myself, I should have never let you go to Gaza, I should have tried harder to get you on the trip to Brussels, I should have done something different, not send you to a place where you would." 

"Would what? Get hurt? Or sleep with Colin?" 

The realization that she had in fact slept with Colin stung like a knife, he had no right to tell her that it hurt him to know that fact, he did after all go back to Amy twice. Josh reached across the table and took her hand in his, letting out the breath he had been holding when she didn't snatch her hand away. 

"Donna, I want you with me, I'd do anything to have you with me." 

"I'm not going to quit Josh, I love what I'm doing." 

"I know how good you are, I stop every time I see you on TV. Just so I can hear your voice." 

"We were good together Josh, but I'm not assistant material anymore, I've grown to much to go back that way." 

"I would never ask you to." 

"What are you going to do if Santos doesn't get the nomination?" 

"Probably go to Florida to see my mom, then head back to DC and wait to see what the DNC has in store for me next." 

"And if you do win?" 

"Head to Houston before we hit the campaign trail." 

"And you?" 

"If we lose, I'm going back to DC and look for a job." 

"If we do, I have to wait and see what young Mr. Bailey has in store." 

"How do you like working with him?" 

"He doesn't bellow." (she laughs) 

"I didn't bellow." 

"Yeah ok." 

"It feels good to see you laughing again." (He tells her) 

"It feels good to be with you again." 

Josh looks up and sees Leo walking in their direction, Leo notices Josh is sitting with Donna, "good maybe they both will pull their heads out of their respective backsides" he says to himself. 

"Mind if I join you?" 

Donna stands up and gives Leo a hug; it has been to long since she had seen her friends. Leo pulls a chair from the other table and joins them. 

"Donna I was hoping I would find you." 

"Oh and why is that?" a concerned look on her face. 

"I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you, you can spin almost as good as CJ, and to quote her, you learned from the master spinner." 

"Thank you Leo, I appreciate the compliment." (she blushes) "There is another thing I wanted to talk to you about, and I'm not sure if I should do it now or wait till after the nominations are announced." 

"Well now that you have my curiosity peaked, you should just go ahead and talk to me." 

Leo looked at her then back at Josh who shook his head and smiled. 

"What are you going to do when Russell loses?" 

Donna chuckles, Leo never did hold back about getting right to the point. 

"I was just telling Josh that I was going to head back to DC and start looking for a job. Why?" 

"I want you to come work for us, I want you to be our Media liaison, I want you to come and help put us back in the White House." (Holding up his hand) 

"I don't want an answer right now, I want you to sleep on it, tell me after the final vote tomorrow night." 

Donna agreed to his terms and thanked him, she watched as he shook Josh's hand and gave her another hug. Leo asks her to walk with him for a moment and excuses them from the table leaving Josh sitting there. 

"Everyone at the campaign is ready to hang him up by his toes, I know Ronna is ready to kill him and tell God he died if he tries to tell her one more time that she is not doing it the way Donna did it, but I want you to understand that you would not be coming in as his assistant, but as his equal." 

Donna gave Leo another hug and thanked him, she told him she would find him tomorrow night and let him know her answer, He knew the answer already, but he wanted to let her say it herself. Donna turned and walked back to the table with Josh. Looking down at her watch, it was almost 11:00 pm and she really needed to sleep before the long haul tomorrow. Will has called her cell twice to make sure she was ok, she smiled. 

"It's good to see you smile Donna." 

"I need to head back to my room." Donna starts looking for the waitress and her bill. 

Josh snatched the bill before she could grab it off the table; she looks at him and starts to say something. 

"Don't, I haven't been able to buy you dinner in a long time, let me have my memory." 

Donna grabs her jacket and thanks him for dinner, she turns to head back to her hotel room, she feels his hand on the small of her back as he is leading her out of the restaurant. 

"Let me walk you back to your hotel." 

"I think your staying in the same hotel Josh, matter of fact your right across the hall, btw how did you manage that one?" she gives him a curious look. 

"A man has to have some secrets Donna" he gives her an evil grin. 

"If you say so Josh." (she rolls her eyes) 


	2. Nomination, The 2

**The Nomination**

**by:** Donna McGuire 

**Character(s):** Josh, Donna  
**Pairing(s):** Josh/Donna  
**Category(s):** Romance  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Summary:** It is the end of the sixth season, enjoy  
**Spoiler:** _2162 Votes_  
**Written:** 08-06-2005  
**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic,hope you enjoy it 

* * *

**Chapter 2**

There are 5 people scheduled to speak tonight, including the President of the United States. Donna always loved watching the President speak, he held her in awe at the way he seemed to capture his audience and hold them with his words. Donna had been thinking a lot about Leo's offer, She knew Russell didn't have a chance in heck of getting the nomination; it would be down to Baker and Santos. Russell was too.. What is the word Josh used? Hokey? Yeah that's it, Hokey. She laughed at herself for saying it. She looked over at Will who was watching her, He knew about the job offer, she had told him, she knew he respected her even more for her honesty, yet he was still sad at the fact that she would be leaving him. Donna had this way about her that just brightened up a room when she walked into it. But she was Josh's girl, always would be. He never stood a chance when it came to Josh Lyman. 

Josh was standing next to Leo as they both watched one of the guest speakers, 

"Have you heard from Donna yet?" 

"I was just going to ask you the same thing." 

"Do you think she will say yes?" 

Josh turned and looked at Leo and smiled. 

"Yeah I do." 

Donna walked up to Will as the states began to call out their votes for the nomination. It was now down to Russell and Santos, Baker had dropped out because of his wife's illness that he didn't bother to reveal. Will smiled as he seen her walk up. And Santos pretty much had it in the bag. 

"Where is the Vice President?" (Donna asks) 

"Probably in his room watching, and working on his speech." 

"I'm leaving now, I just wanted to thank you for having faith in me." 

"I never doubted your abilities." (he smiles at her) 

"Will, if things were different, if there was no Josh Lyman," (Will put his hand up to her face) 

"Donna, it's one of those "what if's" that people are always talking about, Go, be with Josh, he needs you there beside him" 

Donna reaches up and kisses his cheek. Elsie walked in and watched as her brother said goodbye to the one woman he let into his heart. She knew he was doing the right thing, she knew that her heart belonged to someone else, and she didn't hate Donna for that, Elsie was a true romantic. She watched Donna walk out the door and head on into a new adventure with the one man she truly loved. Elsie walked up to her brother and hugged him. 

"What was that for?" (He asks her) 

"For being so brave and letting the one woman you loved walk out of your life forever" 

"Your such a romantic, we were just friends" (She knew he was just being a "guy") 

"The answer to the "what if?" You know she would have never walked out on you and she would be by your side instead of his." 

"Don't you have the Robert Palmer girls to contend with?" (He gives her an annoying look) 

"Yeah, I love you big brother." 

"I love you to Elsie." 

Donna walked through the hall to the other side of the convention center; The Secret Service stopped her and checked her credentials before allowing her to pass. Ron Butterfield walked up to the agent and told him she was ok to enter the president's box. The butterflies were acting like bombardiers in her stomach, Josh turned to see her walk though the doors and smiled at Leo. The President saw Donna heading towards them and called out to her. 

"Donnatella, I was just about to send someone over and have you brought over here." (He laughs) 

"I was to busy watching your speech to get here any quicker Sir." (Jed walks up to her and gives her a welcoming hug) 

Matt Santos along with his wife Helen joins the group "I know you, your Russell's chicken fighter" 

"I'm not gonna live that down am I?" 

"No, but I wouldn't want it any other way" (he chuckles) 

They all stand in silence as the last of the votes are voiced; Donna walked over to Leo and asked to speak to him privately. Josh watched as the two spoke, he couldn't tell Donna's reaction or Leo's for that matter, Now the butterflies where bombardiering in his stomach. 

"God please let her say yes, I can't risk losing her again." (Josh says to himself) 

"Mr. Chairman, the great state of California gives all its 527 electoral votes to the next President of the United States, Matthew Santos." 

They all look at one another, Josh can't believe it, and it's almost like a clean sweep. He turns around to find Donna but she is not there. He looks at Leo who is smiling and shaking everyone's hands. Matt and Leo walk out on stage and the crowd goes nuts. Disappointment starts to settle in Josh's heart, he had been so sure she was going to take the job. Taking a deep breath, maybe if he talked to her, told her how he has felt all these years she would be here instead of, where is she? Just then Ronna walks up to him and hands him a piece of paper. 

"What's this?" 

"I don't know, Donna asked me to give it to you." 

"Thanks." 

Josh watches as Ronna walks back over to the rest of the staff and looks down at the piece of paper with his name on it. This is her goodbye, She couldn't face him again and tell him she was leaving, anger started to build up inside him again. "No I'm not going to let her go again," he tells himself. Josh opens the paper to find six words on it. 

Josh, I took the job Donna. 

Josh felt like a ton of bricks had just been lifted off his chest, looking up from reading the note again, he seen her standing in front of him. Her smile was back where it belonged, beside him. 

"Josh, we are waiting for you," she tells him. 

"I'm coming, hold your pants on." 

Will walked over to the Santos booth and watched as Donna stood there next to Josh. Leo had called him about an hour ago to offer him a job and yes he was going to take it. Elsie had agreed to write for Mrs. Santos as well. Donna turned around and seen Will standing there and smiled at him. Josh looked over his shoulder and waved as well. They were the perfect couple, willing to wait and sacrifice everything to do what they felt was right, and now they would reap the rewards of that sacrifice. Russell had called him to say he was heading to Washington, and to let him know that he was still working for the vice president till after January. Will thanked him but told him something better had come along and he would be resigning his position. The remaining staff would close down the campaign headquarters; they would sleep well tonight then head to Houston tomorrow morning. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Sam Seaborn walk into the room. Sam had lost the Cal-47th and went into private practice afterwards. But he was here today and he could only guess why. 

"Sam, good to see you." (they shake hands) 

"Leo call you?" (Will asked) "No, it was something else." 

Will didn't want to know, but he did. Donna had this way about her to make many a man want to follow her. It was her innocence, and her ability to love no matter what. Will knew that all to well for himself. 

Sam seen Josh and Donna standing next to one another on the stage, he chuckled remembering them when they first started working together on the Bartlett campaign. 

"What's so funny?" (Will looks over at Sam) 

"I was just remembering when they first met." 

"She told him she would be valuable to him, that he wouldn't be sorry that he hired her, then she left him and three weeks later came back, I remember him jumping around the headquarters in New Hampshire saying she had come back to him, he even asked Leo if he could keep her. Those two are meant for each other, no one will every love him the way she does and no one will ever measure up to the love he has for her." 

Josh and Donna were the first to leave the stage, they both walked over to were Sam and Will was standing. Hugs were exchanged between friends. 

"Leo wants to meet for a few before we crash for the night, we'll see you up in Leo's suite in say 15 minutes?" 

He turns around to see Leo speaking with the President and turns back to the others, "ok say 30 minutes" 

"We need to talk about something before the others arrive." (he tells her) 

As they head for the convention center door, Amy walks in. 

"Hey J, Congratulations." she walks up and kisses him on the lips. 

Then Amy looks over at Donna and smiles, 

"To bad Donna, but who knows, maybe Josh will hire you back as his assistant?" she laughs 

Donna turned to Josh and smiled, "I'll let you handle this I'll be in my hotel room. You do remember where it is?"(She adds that to see Amy's expression) 

Josh lets go of her hand and watches as she walks out the convention center doors. 

"Don't worry J, she be back, she always comes back to you" 

"Amy, what is it that you want?" 

"I want to celebrate with you, who else would I want to be with?" 

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing between us anymore, I told you that way back in the beginning of the campaign. Leave me alone Amy, you're a bad seed." 

"Are you going to crawl back to Donna?" 

"Goodbye Amy," Josh says as he walks away and leaves through the same doors Donna went thru. 

Josh walked out of the convention center, he had her back in his life, but he needed to get back in her heart. The campaign would be long and hard on them both. They could be separated for weeks at a time, there would be arguments about how to work a city, Will would argue about speeches with Matt, but in the end, they would all be back in the White House again. 


End file.
